Stephens wilts in straight sets in New York
But blames herself, not extreme heat, for loss to Sevastova
NEW YORK — Just over 12 hours after the U.S. Open tennis tournament lost Roger Federer, another past champion fell in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Defending champion Sloane Stephens lost her quarter-final match, 6-2, 6-3, in the brutal afternoon heat to No. 19 seed Anastasija Sevastova, the same Latvian woman she beat in three sets in the quarter-final last year en route to her first Grand Slam title.
“I’m tight as f- and it’s hot as f-!” Stephens yelled in one moment of frustration, just minutes after the U.S. Open suspended play in its junior tournament due to extreme heat. All of those matches take place on the outer, roofless courts at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center where there is no shade, but temperatures soared on the tournament’s main stage as well. An extreme heat policy that grants an extra 10-minute break midmatch has been in effect for all men’s and women’s singles matches since the start of play Tuesday.
After the match, Stephens refused to blame the heat — or the sinus infection she said she has been playing with since Monday — and instead cited her failure to take advantage of early opportunities to get ahead on Sevastova’s serve.
“Yeah, it was just really hot. You can’t control the weather, can’t control what the tournament is going to do. You just have to go with it,” Stephens said. “Unfortunate that I played first match at 12 and it was so extremely hot, but it was hot for
both of us. She handled it better ... today was just a tough day. I didn’t play my best.”
Stephens looked a step behind from the start of the match and failed to convert seven break points in the first set against Sevastova, which put her in a dangerous position against a woman who entered the match having broken her opponent’s serve a tournament-leading 23 times.
Sevastova broke the 25-yearold
American’s serve twice in the opening set, then broke her again to take a 2-0 lead in the second. She controlled the match from then on.
“When you don’t play the big points well and don’t take your opportunities early, that could affect the outcome of the match,” Stephens said. “I think today I didn’t play those points well at all, even at the end, in the second set.”
Sevastova retired in 2013, returned
to the game in the same year and since then has played some of her best tennis in New York.
She has made three straight quarter-final appearances in New York but Tuesday was her first breakthrough: The 28-yearold is the first Latvian woman to make the U.S. Open semifinals.
She will play American Serena Williams on Thursday after Williams beat Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-3. But first,
she is looking forward to time in air conditioning. “I’m relieved that the match is over in this heat,” she said with a smile when asked how the win feels. Yeah, how do you feel? You feel happy. I think you need some time to look back, to look at this journey. It was an amazing journey ... right now I’m so in it, in the tournament, and you don’t feel it, you know ... So after I stop at some point I will look back at it and I will be proud of myself, for sure.”